Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for Cultivating Lion's Mane Mushroom in Plastic Greenhouses

Lion's mane mushroom (scientific name: Hericium erinaceus) is a traditional prized delicacy in China, with tender flesh, fragrant aroma and delicious taste. It is one of the four famous dishes (lion's mane mushroom, bear paw, sea cucumber, shark fin). It is known as “mountain delicacy lion's mane, sea delicacy bird's nest.” This fungus of the Hericiaceae family has a cap surface covered with furry fleshy spines about 1-3 cm long. Its fruiting body is round and thick, white when fresh, turning light yellow to light brown after drying, with a narrow base or a slightly short stalk, and an enlarged upper part, 3.5-10 cm in diameter. Seen from a distance it resembles the head of a golden monkey, hence the name “lion's mane mushroom”; it also looks like a hedgehog, hence it is also called “hedgehog fungus.” Lion's mane is an incomparably delicious mountain delicacy, with tender flesh and a mellow, tasty flavor, known as “meat among vegetables.”

Morphological Characteristics of Lion's Mane Mushroom

Lion's mane mushroom gets its name because its shape resembles a monkey's head. The spores are transparent and colorless, with a smooth surface, spherical or nearly spherical, about 6.5 - 7.5 & micro; m×5×5.5 in size. The hyphal cells have thin walls, with septa and clamp connections. The hyphal diameter is 10-20. It is one of the four famous dishes (lion's mane mushroom, bear paw, sea cucumber, shark fin).

The fruiting body is block-shaped, flatly hemispherical or head-shaped, fleshy, 5-15cm in diameter, unbranched (which distinguishes it from the false lion's mane mushroom). It is white when fresh and turns brown or light brown when dry. The base of the fruiting body is narrow or has a slightly short stalk. The spines are densely drooping, covering the entire fruiting body. The fleshy spines are cylindrical, 1-5cm long and 1-2mm thick. The surface of each thin spine is covered with a hymenium, on which basidia and cystidia grow densely, but each basidium bears 4 basidiospores, and wild lion's mane mushrooms generally grow in pairs.

How to cultivate lion's mane mushroom in plastic greenhouses?

Lion's mane mushroom is a medium-to-high-grade edible fungus with a special flavor and high nutritional and health value. With the improvement of people's living standards, the market for fresh lion's mane mushroom is gradually expanding. Popularizing lion's mane mushroom cultivation can both meet people's consumption needs and help mushroom farmers get rich. The technique is introduced as follows:

I. Construction of the Plastic Greenhouse

Choose a flat area close to a water source and with a clean environment to build the greenhouse. Greenhouse specifications: about 45 m long from east to west (determined according to the scale of cultivation), 8 m wide from north to south, north wall height (including excavation depth) 2.8 m, south wall height 1.6 m, with a partition wall built every 15 m from north to south. The walls are brick structures; the north wall is a double-layer hollow wall to facilitate heat preservation; the south wall has two windows every 3 m for ventilation. The ground inside the greenhouse is dug down 50 cm, and the top of the greenhouse is covered with anti-drip film for heat preservation. Mushroom farmers with the means can also use winter-warm vegetable greenhouses for lion's mane mushroom cultivation.

II. Cultivation Season

According to the temperature requirements for the growth and development of lion's mane mushroom, when using plastic greenhouse cultivation in Shandong, cultivation bags should generally be made in mid-October, and after about one month of cultivation, fruiting begins in mid-to-late November, and fruiting ends in early-to-mid March of the following year.

III. Preparation of Cultivation Bags

1. Preparation of culture material Formula ①: cottonseed hulls 90%, wheat bran 8%, gypsum 1%, superphosphate 1%. Formula ②: cottonseed hulls 58%, mixed wood chips 30%, wheat bran 10%, gypsum 1%, superphosphate 1%. Formula ③: cottonseed hulls 50%, corncob powder 38%, wheat bran 10%, gypsum 1%, superphosphate 1%. Mix the raw materials of each of the above formulas well, add water at a material-to-water ratio of 1:1.2 to 1:1.4 and adjust to a moisture content of 65%.

2. Bagging Use polypropylene plastic bags of 15 cm×32 cm to 34 cm×0.04 cm, each bag filled with about 0.4 kg to 0.45 kg dry material weight. The material should be pressed moderately firm, then the bag opening tied tightly with string.

IV. Sterilization

1. Atmospheric pressure sterilization Place the culture material bags layer by layer in the sterilization pot, heat to 100°C, maintain for 10 hours, stop the fire and let stand for 5 hours to 6 hours, then take out the bags to cool and inoculate.

2. High pressure sterilization Use a large-capacity high-pressure sterilization pot, place the material bags also layer by layer, maintain a pressure of 1.2 kg/sq cm for 2 hours, then let it cool naturally until the pressure reaches zero, open the pot lid and take out the material bags to cool. When sterilizing in a large-capacity sterilization pot, if the pressure is raised to 1.5 kg/sq cm, bag melting and bag swelling are likely to occur, affecting the sterilization effect.